Thanks for the detailed reply. To add to your #2, I've done that a few times and then I actually get rid of the bake-helper edge loop, so you get the nice bake and you can actually then make it low again. It works pretty well. And WOW, that's a lot of polys for Star Citizen! Man!
Well. There is only one right answer for it. Use your reason. If you are making simple chair with 4000 polys you are clearly not game dev artist (;. You should just be using few simple rules: 1. Add as many as geometry you need to keep silhouette. 2. On top of that, add small details that enachne close look and/or improve…